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(No Model.) A. M. BROCK.

` FENCE RAIL. l No. 373,123. Patented Nov. 15, 18,37.

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Arm/mfr UNMEE TATES PATENT OFFICE.

ADDIE M. EEooK, E NORTH PLAINEIELD, NEW JERSEY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 373,123, dated November 13, 1887.

Application led March 3, 1887.

To all whom t may concern: Be it known that L'ADDIE M. BROOK, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of North Plainfield, in the county of Union and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in FenceItails, of which the following is a specilication.

My invention consists, essentially.in the ernployment of a link or clevis of peculiar con- Io struction for the purpose of connecting the contiguous ends of fence-rails wherethey meet between the posts,whereby a continuous flexible rail is produced, as hereinafter more particularly described.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l represents a portion of a fence constructed according to my invention; Figs. 2 to 12 are detail Views of different forms of the link or clevis.

2o The link or clevis may be made of plate metal or of stout wire, or both. When made of wire,it is bent so as to form two loops large enough to surround the ends of the rails and engage with kerfs or notches therein, with the Wire crossing diagonally between the links.

In Figs. 2 and 3 the link A is made of a single piece of wire crossing diagonally between the loops.

In Figs. 4, 5, and 6 the link B has'the wire 3o crossed, and it is also twisted two or three times in order to give it additional strength.

In Figs. 7, 8, and 9 the link is composed of a metal plate, C, with two wire loops, D D, hooked to the corners thereof. This form covers thejoint where the ends oftwo rails meet, as shown in Fig. l, and afford protection from the weather.

.In Figs. 10, 11, and 12 the link E is made Serial No. 229,633. (No model.)

from a piece of metal forming a central protecting-plate,e, and two loops,ff, the plate being bent so as to allow said loops to engage with the kerfs or notches, as shown in Fig. 1.

rIhe mode of applying the links or clevises to the rails is shown in Fig. 1. The crossed portions of the wire, or the central protectingplate, is placed on top, so as to cover thejoint where the ends of two rails meet,and the loops extend from thence diagonally downward and outward and engage with kerfs or notches g in the under sides ot` the y rails G near their con tiguous ends. The rails may be passed through tenons in the prsts H in the old way, or through staples h, driven into the posts, and in some cases they may be secured to an intermediate post by bolts z', as shown.

By this construction a fence-rail is constructed which is stronger than a rail made of a single piece ot' wood and without stiffness and britt-leness, while its flexibility allows it to yield in all directions when pressed upon by cattle or under other similar circumstances.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is*

A fence-rail composed of two or more rails having kerfs or notches on their lower sides, in combination with a metallic link or clevis consisting of a central portion and two loops adapted to connect the ends of the rails together and to engage with the joint ou the upper sides and with the kerfs ornotches on the lower sides of the rails, substantially as and for the purpose herein shown and described.

ADDIE M. BROCK.

Witnesses:

FRANcIs C. BOWEN, W. E. BROOK. 

